Racism

After a weekend that saw anti-Zwarte Piet demonstrators attacked by threats, racist epithets, and with eggs and beer cans hurled at them, the activists of Kick Out Zwarte Piet said they are disappointed in city governance in the Netherlands. Protestors were physically and verbally assaulted during the Sinterklaas arrival events in Eindhoven, Groningen, and Leeuwarden, while threats of violence forced the cancellation of a protest in Nijmegen.

The court of Haarlem ruled on Wednesday that the appearance of Zwarte Pieten participating in the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Zaandam on Saturday does not have to be adjusted further. The Majority Perspective foundation was not entitled to institute legal proceedings because no prior consultations were held with the defendants, the court said, NU.nl reports.

The municipality of Zaanstad fears that the Sinterklaas's national arrival on Saturday will have to be canceled if the court rules in favor of the Majority Perspective foundation in summary proceedings the foundation filed.

A group of Zwarte Piet opponents filed summary proceedings asking the court to ban the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Zaanstad on Saturday. The Majority Perspective foundation filed this lawsuit against a number of involved parties, including Sinterklaasjournaal broadcaster NTR and the mayor of Zaanstad, NU.nl reports.

Zwarte Piet in his traditional form will no longer be welcome at the police's internal Sinterklaas celebrations from 2020. "The Sinterklaas party is a connecting party, but some expressions at that party hurt people. Where such painful experiences exist, we look together how we can solve that", the police said in a statement.

One float in the Brabantsedag Heeze theater parade caused a bit of an uproar on Facebook. According to Sun Shain, who posted a video of the float in question on Facebook, it looks like a slave ship, carrying people in blackface makeup.

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver called on Prime Minister Mark Rutte to distance himself from statements Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs made about multiculturalism. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Klaver said he can't understand why Rutte hasn't yet done so, NOS reports.

Utrecht student association Unitas S.R. suspended one of its members after he sent an email full of "unnecessarily offensive, racist and sexist comments" within the association, the Volkskrant reports.

Police inspector Herbert Hoekerswever from Enschede must be prosecuted for unjustly arresting a fellow officer in 2016, the Arnhem-Leeuwarden court of appeal ruled. Hoekerswever himself asked to be prosecuted, Tubantia reports.

Over 200 officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a letter calling on Minister Stef Blok to increase diversity in the department. According to them, the Ministry is lagging behind with the acceptance of people with a bicultural background. They want to discuss promoting diversity with the Minister, NOS reports.

The government of Curacao released a statement distancing itself from statements Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs made about multicultural societies. The island's government "deeply regrets" the statements, because as foreign minister Blok also speaks on behalf of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The Surinamese government would like Blok to apologize for his statements.

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs regrets that he offended people with statements he made about multicultural societies and Suriname during a private meeting with Dutch working at international organizations last week. "I did not choose my words well and I regret that", he said in response to the commotion his remarks caused, NOS reports.

There are no peaceful multicultural societies and it is genetically determined that man can not connect with "unknown people", Minister Stef Blok (VVD) of Foreign Affairs said during a private meeting with Dutch who work for international organizations last week Tuesday, which current affairs program Zembla has footage of.

Publisher Kluitman decided to remove children's book 'Suriname, here we come' from its stock due to accusations that the book's content is discriminatory or even racist.

The book offers its young readers fun 'facts' about Suriname. But whether Surinamese people would consider these facts fun is another story. An Amsterdam resident spotted the book while in the library with her child and posted some photos on Facebook. Journalist Anna Krijger shared these on Twitter.

Dutch Facebook users provide a remarkably large stream of posts containing hate, racism, an wishes for someone to get a disease like cancer. The number of such posts coming from southern European countries, for example, is much lower, the Volkskrant reports based on its own research.

The newspaper based its report on an anonymous interview with a Dutch man who worked for Facebook as moderator in Berlin last year, leaked emails, internal documents, and a colleague who supported his story. A Dutch team, which varies from five to eight people, works as Facebook moderators in Berlin.

Dutch beer giant Heineken decided to retract a commercial after Chance the Rapper called the campaign slogan "sometimes, lighter is better" racist.

"Although we find the commercial refers to our Heineken Light beer, we have missed the mark and we take the feedback to heart', Heineken said in a statement, RTL Nieuws reports. "We will take this into account n the development of our future campaigns."

Ugbaad Kilincci, the PvdA candidate city councilor who faced various racist remarks while campaigning on Saturday, will have a seat in the Emmen city council. She received 1,007 preference votes in the municipal elections on Wednesday, RTV Drenthe reports.

Ugbaad Kilincci, a PvdA candidate councilor in Emmen, was faced with racism while campaigning in the Drenthe town on Saturday. She was called, among other things, a "ragged-head moron", a "black monkey", and told to "go back to Africa", RTL Nieuws reports.

Yernaz Ramautarsing stepped down as candidate for nationalist party FvD in the Amsterdam municipal elections after a WhatsApp chat in which he supported the statement that gay rights made society dumber became public. He distanced himself from the statements in the WhatsApp chat and announced that he is stepping down in a statement on the FvD's website on Saturday.

The Public Prosecutor will not prosecute Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs for slander and defamation. FvD leader Thierry Baudet pressed charges against the Minister last month, but the Public Prosecutor determined that she committed no criminal offenses, the Prosecutor announced on Thursday.